This invention relates generally to emission control valves for automotive vehicles. In one specific aspect, the invention relates to solenoid-operated fluid valves for purging volatile fuel vapors from fuel tanks and vapor storage canisters to internal combustion engines that power such vehicles.
A known on-board evaporative emission control system comprises a vapor collection canister that collects volatile fuel vapors generated in the headspace of the fuel tank by the volatilization of liquid fuel in the tank and a canister purge solenoid (CPS) valve for periodically purging collected vapors to an intake manifold of the engine. The CPS valve comprises a solenoid actuator that is under the control of a microprocessor-based engine management system.
During conditions conducive to purging as determined by the engine management system on the basis of various inputs to it, evaporative emission space that is cooperatively defined by the tank headspace and the canister is purged to the engine intake manifold through the CPS valve, which is fluid-connected between the canister and the engine intake manifold. The CPS valve is opened by a signal from the engine management computer in an amount that allows intake manifold vacuum to draw volatile fuel vapors from the canister for entrainment with the combustible mixture passing into the engine""s combustion chamber space at a rate consistent with engine operation to provide both acceptable vehicle driveability and an acceptable level of exhaust emissions.
A known CPS valve comprises a movable valve element that is resiliently biased by a compression spring against a valve seat to close the valve to flow when no electric current is being delivered to the solenoid. As electric current begins to be increasingly applied to the solenoid, increasing electromagnetic force acts in a sense tending to unseat the valve element and thereby open the valve to fluid flow. This electromagnetic force must overcome various forces acting on the mechanical mechanism before the valve element can begin to unseat, including overcoming both whatever static friction (stiction) is present between the valve element and the seat, as well as the opposing spring bias force. Once the valve element has unseated, the valve element/valve seat geometry also plays a role in defining the functional relationship of fluid flow rate through the valve to electric current supplied to the solenoid coil. Furthermore, the extent to which a given valve possesses hysteresis will also be reflected in the functional relationship.
When the valve element comprises a tapered pintle that is selectively positioned axially within a circular orifice which is circumscribed by the valve seat, a well defined flow rate vs. pintle position characteristic can be obtained. However, certain geometric factors present at the valve element/valve seat interface may prevent this characteristic from becoming effective until the valve element has unseated a certain minimum distance from the valve seat. Accordingly, each graph plot of fluid flow rate through the valve vs. electric current supplied to the solenoid coil may be considered to comprise distinct spans: a short initial span that occurs between valve closed position and a certain minimum valve opening; and a more extensive subsequent span that occurs beyond a certain minimum valve opening.
One specific type of CPS valve comprises a linear solenoid and a linear compression spring that is increasingly compressed as the valve increasingly opens. It is sometimes referred to as a linear solenoid purge valve, or LSPV for short. Such a valve can provide certain desirable characteristics for flow control. By itself, a linear solenoid possesses a force vs. electric current characteristic that is basically linear over a certain range of current. When a linear solenoid is incorporated in an electromechanical device, such as a valve, the overall electromechanical mechanism possesses an output vs. electric current characteristic that is a function of not just the solenoid, but also the mechanical mechanism, such as a valve mechanism, to which the solenoid force is applied. As a consequence then, the output vs. electric current characteristic of the overall device is somewhat modified from that of the linear solenoid alone.
While a CPS valve that incorporates both a linear solenoid and a tapered pintle valve element which is selectively positionable axially within a circular orifice that is circumscribed by the valve seat can exhibit a desired fluid flow rate vs. pintle position characteristic, such characteristic may not become effective until after the pintle has opened a certain minimum amount because of geometric factors at the pintle/seat interface, as noted earlier. Accordingly, each graph plot of fluid flow rate through the valve vs. electric current applied to the solenoid coil may be considered to comprise the spans referred to above, namely, a short initial span that occurs between valve closed position and a certain minimum valve opening, and a more extensive subsequent span that occurs beyond a certain minimum valve opening.
Generally speaking, a linear solenoid purge valve may be graphically characterized by a series of graph plots of fluid flow rate vs. electric current, each of which is correlated to a particular pressure differential across the valve. Each graph plot may be characterized by the aforementioned short initial span and the more extensive subsequent span. Within the latter span of each graph plot, one especially desirable attribute is that a substantially constant relationship between incremental change in an electric control current applied to the solenoid and incremental change in fluid flow rate through the valve may be obtained by appropriate design of the valve element/valve seat interface geometry. Within the former span, incremental change in fluid flow rate through the valve may however bear a substantially different relationship to incremental change in an electric control current applied to the solenoid.
In one such linear solenoid purge valve, a certain minimum electric current is required before the valve begins to open. For a given pressure differential across the valve, a corresponding graph plot of fluid flow rate vs. electric current may be described as comprising a relatively short initial span where a small incremental change in electric current will result in an incremental change in flow that is much different from the incremental change that occurs over an ensuing span where the valve has opened beyond a certain minimum opening and incremental change in flow through the valve bears a substantially constant relationship to incremental change in electric current.
Electric current to the solenoid coil of any solenoid-operated device can be delivered in various ways. One known way is by applying a pulse width modulated D.C. voltage across the solenoid coil. In choosing the pulse frequency of the applied voltage, consideration may be given to the frequency response characteristic of the combined solenoid and mechanical mechanism operated by the solenoid. If a pulse frequency that is well within the frequency response range of the combined solenoid and mechanism is used, the mechanism will faithfully track the pulse width signal. On the other hand, if a pulse frequency that is well beyond the frequency response range of the combined solenoid and mechanical mechanism is used, the mechanism will be positioned according to the time average of the applied voltage pulses. The latter technique may be preferred over the former because the mechanical mechanism will not reciprocate at the higher frequency pulse width modulated waveform, but rather will assume a position corresponding to the time averaged current flow in the solenoid coil. Under the former technique, the mechanism could, by contrast, experience significant reciprocation as it tracks the lower frequency waveform, and that might create unacceptable characteristics. In the case of a CPS valve, such characteristics may include undesirable pulsations in the purge flow and objectionable noise caused by repeated impacting of the valve element with the valve seat and/or a limit stop that limits maximum valve travel. Such a valve may experience unacceptable variation in the start-to-flow duty cycle.
In order to address the pulsation issue, it is known to associate a mechanical pressure regulator with a CPS valve. The pressure regulator mechanically damps the purge flow pulses, but does not address the root cause, which is due to the pulsating solenoid.
Accordingly, a need exists for further improvement in certain aspects of pulse-operated emission control valves such as CPS valves because such valves may be required to perform under diverse vehicle operating conditions. For a CPS valve, purging of volatile fuel vapor to the intake manifold when the engine is idling may be quite difficult to accurately control.
One general aspect of the invention relates to an electric-operated pressure-regulated fluid flow control valve comprising a valve mechanism that is positioned within a valve body by an electric control signal to control fluid flow through the valve body and that has a frequency response characteristic which renders the valve mechanism incapable of faithfully tracking the fundamental frequency of an electric control signal whose fundamental frequency is greater than a predetermined frequency that, when applied in control of the valve mechanism, positions the valve mechanism to a position corresponding to a most recent time average of the electric control signal free of any significant pulsing of the valve mechanism, and a pressure regulator comprising a flow path having an entrance through which fluid flow that has passed through the valve mechanism enters the pressure regulator flow path and an exit from which fluid flow that has entered the pressure regulator flow path exits the pressure regulator flow path, the pressure regulator comprising a pressure regulating mechanism that regulates the pressure at the entrance of the pressure regulator flow path to a pressure that is essentially independent of pressure at the exit of the pressure regulator flow path.
Another general aspect relates to an electric-operated pressure-regulated fuel vapor purge valve for purging fuel vapor from a fuel tank to an intake manifold of an internal combustion engine comprising a valve mechanism that is positioned within a valve body by an electric control signal to control flow through the valve body and that has a frequency response characteristic which renders the valve mechanism incapable of faithfully tracking the fundamental frequency of an electric control signal whose fundamental frequency is greater than a predetermined frequency that, when applied in control of the valve mechanism, positions the valve mechanism to a position corresponding to a most recent time average of the electric control signal free of any significant pulsing of the valve mechanism, and a pressure regulator comprising a flow path having an entrance through which flow that has passed through the valve mechanism enters the pressure regulator flow path and an exit for communicating the pressure regulator flow path to an engine intake manifold, the pressure regulator comprising a pressure regulating mechanism that regulates the pressure at the entrance of the pressure regulator flow path to a pressure that is essentially independent of intake manifold vacuum.
A further aspect relates to an LSPV, including a pressure regulator, that is believed to provide further improvements in purge flow control accuracy over a substantial range of valve operation and under diverse operating conditions.
A still further aspect relates to the provision of certain constructional features in a pressure regulator that, in association with a CPS valve, are believed to provide improved purge flow control accuracy by significantly attenuating the influence of variations in pressure differential that would otherwise produce variations in the purge for a given valve opening.